Well....as life would have it, another Canadian, if not International Institution closes its doors after 71 years. Crown Surplus of Calgary Alberta has sadly announced it's shutting the doors. Hanno will be posting a News broadcast shortly.
I personally have been affiliated with Crown for over 50 years. Having lived in Calgary for 12 years, it was the "go to" place for army surplus. You could find the damndest stuff in there. WW11 camo nets, still tied up with the original bailing cord for $29.95. God, there's a smell I can never, ever get rid of. Those were the days where items that we'd be killing each other for on Ebay, were piled up there higgly piggly for pennies on the dollar. I remember buying my first deactivated Bren and Sten guns there, when people knew how to properly deactivate a firearm! One thing I have to pay tribute to, was the late owner, Gordon Cumming. When I first started going there in the early 1970's, Gordon had put together a small museum off to one side of the store. I stand to be corrected...but there were 4 WW11 Tanks in this museum. I recall one of them being a "Churchill". The entire area was decorated with flags, posters, uniforms, weapons....just everything! Many years later, Gordon sold off the tanks, for lack of interest in the museum. Eventually years later when the Museum of the Regiments opened their doors, they had to go scrounging around Europe to find one. One item that has always been every collector's dream, was the Canadian Bofors Gun parked just outside the front of the store. Many a man has tried to buy it and unfortunately no success to anyone. So if any member is going to Calgary at any time soon, it would be a good idea to pop in and see if you can pick up a few deals before it's too late. And for others, just pop in for nostalgia's purpose.
Going to Crown Surplus was like going to Rome....you just had to visit the Vatican!
To the Cummings Family....."thanks for the memories!"
Robert
